Trump leads Kirk memorial tributes

Crowds honour conservative critic

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US President Donald Trump and top officials in his administration was to lead tributes to Charlie Kirk yesterday at a stadium gathering in Arizona, after the influential conservative activist was gunned down last week.

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot in the neck on Sept 10 while speaking at a Utah university as part of his popular public debate series.

Authorities arrested a suspect after a 33-hour manhunt, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty in the case.

The killing of the young conservative leader, founder of the Turning Point USA right-wing youth action campaign, has further deepened acrimonious political divisions in the United States.

Authorities say the suspected 22-year-old gunman cited the “hatred” he believed was stoked by Kirk — who was a vitriolic critic of transgender people, Muslims and others.

Kirk used his millions of social media followers, the massive audience of his podcast and appearances at universities to bolster Mr Trump with young voters and fight for a nationalist, Christian-centric political ideology.